Former County Attorney Driscoll dies

Longtime Harris County Attorney Mike Driscoll, whose 15-year tenure was cut short by Parkinson's disease in 1996, died Tuesday at home of complications from the disease. He was 66.

Driscoll was lauded by friends and fellow officials as a quiet and dignified model of a public servant who loved politics and never backed away from a fight if he felt his office was in the right. As a Democrat, he often butted heads with the Republican-controlled Commissioners Court. But he earned the respect of political friend and foe alike.

"He truly cared about the people of Harris County and always strived to do a great job," said County Commissioner Steve Radack, who was Precinct 5 Constable when he first met Driscoll. "He was very interested in the environment, long before it was a popular position to stand for. He was certainly concerned about sexually oriented businesses and doing something about them.

"And he was protective of county employees, wanting to make sure they were treated fairly. He was very aggressive when it came to the protecting the money of the taxpayers of Harris County against frivolous lawsuits."

Good friend Terry O'Rourke, special counsel in the County Attorney's Office, met Driscoll when the two teenagers roomed together as congressional pages in Washington, D.C., in 1963, and later worked for Driscoll from 1986 to 1996.

O'Rourke said the 1987 removal of Precinct 3 Commissioner Bob Eckels after a conviction for taking an illegal gift illustrated Driscoll's professionalism.

'Essential integrity'

"Bob Eckels as a politician was one of the closest friends our office had," O'Rourke said. "People looked at it from the outside as Driscoll being a Democrat and Eckels being a Republican, but the relationships on Commissioners Court have little to do with party label. When I talk about public integrity and Mike Driscoll, it's not just guts, it is the essential integrity to literally pull the trigger in the political sense, not for political gain but because it was the right thing to do."

Michael Hardee Driscoll was born in Houston in 1946 to Victor and Inez Driscoll. He received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Houston. Driscoll was active in Democratic Party politics for years and came by it naturally, as a nephew of former Houston Mayor Neal Pickett and former U.S. Sen. Ralph Yarborough. Immediately after graduating from law school, Driscoll was elected Justice of the Peace, Precinct 8, Position 1, a post he held from 1973 until 1978.

Three years later he was elected county attorney and set about raising the profile of the office.

True public servant

"Mike Driscoll was the epitome of a public servant," said County Attorney Vince Ryan, who worked for Driscoll for seven years, beginning in 1981, mostly as the office's first assistant. "In the years I worked for him, sometimes we disagreed about the way to go about doing something, but we never disagreed about whether something was right or wrong ."

Since taking office in 2009, Ryan said he has tried to revitalize efforts Driscoll began in the areas of compliance, from environmental issues to sexually oriented businesses and enforcing deed restrictions.

Driscoll's decision not to run for re-election in 1996 because of the onset of Parkinson's was a decision typical of him, Ryan said, devoid of ego or ambition.

Commissioner El Franco Lee said Driscoll never allowed disagreements to become personal and always maintained balance in his views on policy.

"He was often in the midst or the heat of controversy, but he had a very level head and an even-handed approach to things," Lee said. "At the end of the day, he helped the county move forward in a positive way."

Driscoll did a lot of environmental enforcement, set up the legal structure of the toll road, and guided the court through implementation of federal mandates on jail overcrowding, Lee said.

Survivors include his brother, Victor Driscoll Jr., and two nieces. Besides his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife, Betty Rose.